STORRS — The American Athletic Conference will announce its big award winners Wednesday afternoon in Memphis, Tenn., just before the start of the league tournament at FedExForum. The most intriguing of those awards is the race for player of the year.

It comes down to three guards in the guard-heavy league: UConn's Shabazz Napier, Cincinnati's Sean Kilpatrick and Louisville's Russ Smith. Judging by the coaches teleconferece Monday, it sounds like there is a lean toward Kilpatrick, but it's not an easy choice.

"I don't know how you choose from any of those guys," SMU coach Larry Brown said. "They're all phenomenal, all great leaders, all great team guys. ... That's a really, really tough choice to make."

The award usually goes to a player on the team that wins the league, which would make it come down to Kilpatrick and Smith given that their teams tied for the league title. However, going on statistics, Napier would be the clear winner.

Not only does he lead UConn in scoring (17.8), rebounding (6.0) and assists (5.2), he is second in the league in scoring behind Kilpatrick (20.9), 13th in rebounding and second in assists. Kilpatrick and Smith don't register nearly as much among the league leaders.

Kilpatrick is third in free-throw percentage (84.4), behind Napier (87.7). Smith is third in assists (4.8) and second in steals (2.0). Napier stands third in steals (1.8).

"I don't feel the need to (make a case for Kilpatrick)," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said. "I think he did it and did it emphatically. He did it night in and night out.

"I know there's not going to be a conference tournament with three better players."

Napier said he doesn't care about winning player of the year.

"I don't care about that," he said. "I'm invested in winning a championship."

Moving forward: Kevin Ollie has let go of what happened Saturday at Louisville, maybe reluctantly. It still stings Napier.

UConn was lathered by an 81-48 score at the KFC Yum! Center by the Cardinals in the final regular-season game of the first AAC campaign. The league tournament begins Wednesday night in Memphis, Tenn. — Thursday night for the Huskies – with Ollie focused on other things.

He was able to shift that focus thanks in part to a conversation with Jim Calhoun.

"If you coach long enough you're going to have games like that," Ollie said. "That's what the Big Kahuna (Calhoun) told me today. ... It happens. We put that in the trash can."

Not so much for Napier. The game still stings for him.

He has forgotten about it as much as he can, but he might likely be holding onto it as motivation as the Huskies enter the postseason. For him, getting hammered was just as bad as losing a one-point game at the buzzer.

"For me anyway, a loss is a loss," Napier said. "It doesn't matter if it's by one point or by 50, damn near, it's still hurts.

"That wasn't us out there. We're focused on proving that it wasn't us this week."

The fourth-seeded Huskies, who dropped just two spots in the Associated Press poll to No. 21, open the tournament against No. 5 seed Memphis at approximately 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

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